


Unforeseen Consequences

by amonkeysue



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers AU, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-19
Updated: 2015-04-06
Packaged: 2018-03-08 07:16:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3200303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amonkeysue/pseuds/amonkeysue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A take on "What if Natasha had been guarding the Tesseract instead of Clint at the beginning of Avengers?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Reaper (Natasha)

**Author's Note:**

> I've been sitting on this for many months now, and it's probably about time I share it.

She watched from the corners and edges of the room. The technicians would often forget she was even there. The Black Widow was very, very good at blending in to the shadows when and where she needed to. She stayed silent and still, only moving when she thought it best. 

Often, this included moving to make one of the technicians jump as they saw something move out of the corner of their eyes.

Perhaps a little too much of Clint’s influence.

Natasha had come to keep an eye on the Tesseract because Fury had asked her to. 

(She wouldn’t tell herself that it had been an order. Natasha tended to listen to Fury’s orders, except on very rare occasions. Since she hadn’t necessarily wanted to listen to Fury in this particular order, she would call it a request to give herself more mental excuses. Clint would do fine without her. The doctors had said he would be fine to go back out into the field. She still wished she could have gone with him, just in case.)

Internal warning alarms started going off as soon as the Tesseract started “misbehaving.”

She surprised yet another technician (Female, blonde, white lab coat, limited defense training. Would need help should a situation arise.) by moving out of the shadows and approaching Selvig after he rushed in to the room. 

“Any ideas as to what exactly the Tesseract is doing, Doctor?”

He tore his eyes away from a screen and faced her with a shrug, his expression betraying the fact that he was only half focused on her. “I don’t know what she’s doing. I… hmm.” Selvig started to wander up towards the Tesseract. Natasha folded her arms and started to follow behind. “I have no idea what is going on. It’s… I don’t know.”

Natasha could tell that his focus was almost wholly devoted to the Tesseract now. “Give a shout if anything interesting pops up, Doctor.”

Absentmindedly, Selvig replied, “Yes. I’ll give a shout.”

She nodded and retreated back into the shadows, carefully watching everyone’s coming and going. She had a bad feeling about this. 

If there was one thing that she had learned from Clint making her watch the original Star Wars movies and from personal experience, it was that it was generally better to trust the bad feeling and be wary.

\--

Before Fury came, nothing seemingly out of place had happened, besides the obvious fact of the Tesseract acting up. The technicians had pulled the power. The Tesseract turned it back on. Selvig was both fascinated and at a loss for an explanation, as he somewhat managed to express to Fury.

“Where’s Agent Romanoff?” Fury asked Selvig.

He almost chuckled. “The Black Widow? I imagine she’s off lurking in one of the shadows around here. She prefers to stay out of the way until something comes up.”

After Natasha had heard Fury ask about her, she couldn’t help but carefully approach Selvig and Fury from behind.

“Gentlemen? Anything that we need to share about the Tesseract or our current plans?”

Selvig jumped at the sound of Natasha’s voice. Fury was holding back a smile. “That depends, Agent Romanoff. Is there anything you’d like to share?”

She casually shrugged. “From what we can tell, the Tesseract started acting up on its own. The staff is clean.” Natasha and Fury were walking towards the Tesseract, Selvig too intent on the nearby screens to follow. “No one has had outside contact. Selvig has been too busy trying to figure out what the Tesseract is doing to even think about anything else. Our issue doesn’t stem from anywhere here.”

Fury cast Natasha a withering look. “From anywhere here?” he repeated with emphasis on ‘here.’

“Yes.” She curiously raised an eyebrow and looked straight at Fury. “One thing that has been repeatedly addressed is how the Tesseract is a doorway to who knows where in space. There are no doors that only open one way. The tampering is occurring elsewhere.”

Just as Natasha stopped talking, the Tesseract lit up a bright white and let out a small flare before it started to hum. Both Fury and Natasha cautiously started to step back, particularly as the humming grew louder and the flares grew larger.

They quietly watched as the flares spiraled into a thin beam and shot across to the far end of the room, forming a large circular portal. Just as quickly as it had appeared, the portal exploded out in a wave of energy. Everyone attempted to duck away from the movement.

Natasha’s bad feeling was reaching entirely new levels.

Blue-white flares gathered towards the ceiling above where the portal had been. In place of the portal sat a figure, half hunched over and with a golden staff in hand. The flares flickered around the figure’s still form.

The armored SHIELD agents in the room carefully started to approach the figure, their guns held at the ready.

As the flares vanished, the figure slowly stood, revealing that they at least appeared to be a man, clothed in leather and metal armor and with long, messy black hair. Even from the distance where they stood, Natasha and Fury could easily spot the man’s maniacal smile.

Each started to reach for their respective guns.

Fury finally broke the chilling silence that had settled over the room. In a shout, he ordered, “Sir, please put down the spear!”

As if confused, the man curiously regarded his staff, only to quickly fire a blue blast of energy where Fury stood.

Instinctively, Natasha pushed Fury down and rolled to the side. The sound of metal ripping from its home and the feeling of heat near her back revealed just how close the energy blast had been.

The agents had opened fire, but the man fought back easily with his staff and throwing knives.

Positioned with one knee up and the other steady on the ground, Natasha fired.

The man seemingly had a force field that kept the bullets from hitting their mark. In response to the firing attempts, the man fired yet another energy blast towards Natasha and the agents behind her. Again, she rolled out of the way, although the blast still hit a little too close for comfort and threw her off.

All the SHIELD agents had effectively been downed. Natasha quickly struggled to gain her footing. 

She heard the man coming up behind her. As she stood she turned, ready to attack, only to have the man grab her left wrist, forcing her to keep her gun pointed away from him and down. She struggled against his grip until he let out a breath.

Quick as a flash, she kicked the man in the side with her right leg and simultaneously jerked her left arm out of his grip. He grunted and slightly hunched over, but quickly recovered enough to try and swing the staff in an arc for her head.

She dropped to the ground and swung her legs out, catching the man’s and throwing them out from underneath him. A noise of pain escaped the man as his elbow connected with the floor. Natasha’s gun was aimed straight at him.

“Staying down would really be in your best interests,” she warned.

In response, the man kicked at her left shin, his boot only worsening the blow’s impact. She huffed and gritted her teeth, distracted for a brief moment in which the man stood and again tried to hit Natasha with the staff. She crouched and ducked to the side before grabbing at the man’s arm and attempting to pop his elbow. He groaned and jerked his arm back, his strength taking Natasha by surprise. She nearly took an elbow to the face and stumbled backwards.

The man took advantage of the movement, again grabbing at her wrist. He quickly set the tip of the staff against her sternum.

They both exhaled, a much needed breath after the previous commotion.

He slightly leaned forward and almost smiled before whispering, “You have heart.”

The gem embedded in the staff glowed.

Natasha sharply gasped and looked up. Her eyes slowly darkened to a black shade. 

_Damn it Romanoff what the hell are you doing don’t let this happen-_

She blinked. Her eyes were now the same shade of blue as the Tesseract and the gem. 

Seemingly satisfied, the man pulled the staff away. Natasha holstered her gun and stared at the man. He smiled and turned away, transferring the staff into his other hand as he did so. She continued to stand there, only blinking as she processed a flood of information.

The man went around the room, repeating the process of using the staff on the various agents who remained conscious and functional around the monitoring equipment.

Natasha was about to make a move to at least address Fury trying to make off with the Tesseract when the man addressed him first. “Please don’t leave. I will be needing that.”

“It doesn’t have to get any messier from here.” Fury barely looked back over his shoulder as he spoke.

As the two men conversed, Natasha only focused on the conversation enough to know the important details while she plotted through what may be the best course of action to follow in light of the thoughts that were intruding in her mind. The dangerous newcomer was Loki. He had plans of his own for the world. While the banter continued, she regarded the surroundings before walking up to Loki’s side.

“Director Fury is stalling. The facility is about to blow. He intends to bury us under one hundred feet of rock.” Blankly, she stared at Fury.

Determined, he responded, “Like the pharaohs of old.”

Selvig confirmed Natasha’s statement and gave a two minute timeframe.

Loki turned towards Natasha, almost expectantly. “Well then. Kill him.”

Before Fury could react, she had drawn her gun and shot at his chest, knocking him off his feet with a hollow moan of pain. Grabbing the Tesseract’s case on the way out, she followed Loki, Selvig, and the other agents he had gathered towards the vehicles.

She ignored Maria’s curious look, only muttering an explanation of, “We need these vehicles.”

Selvig moved towards the passenger seat of a nearby vehicle and Natasha was headed for the driver’s seat.

Maria’s eyes tracked Loki as he carefully settled into the back of the vehicle Selvig and Natasha had claimed. “Who’s that?” Her radio was starting to crackle to life.

“A name didn’t seem too important,” Natasha lowly said.

Fury’s voice carried over Maria’s radio, immediately drawing everyone’s attention. “Hill! Something happened to Romanoff, she’s not-!”

Maria ignored the rest of what Fury said, hastily ducking and rolling behind the nearby wall as Natasha fired at her. 

The vehicles screeched away just as Maria leaned out from behind the wall and started to fire on the escaping vehicles.

“Sir,” Maria hurriedly started to say into her radio, half confused, half concerned, and wholly expecting answers of some kind.

“They have the Tesseract, Hill! Our top priority is to get that back!”

Rather than taking the time to respond, Maria hopped into one of the remaining vehicles and slammed on the gas, determined to stay in hot pursuit of the others. 

From above the tunnels, unpleasant cracking noises carried. From inside the tunnels came the sound of crashing vehicles, no doubt caused by Loki.

After taking a side route, Maria managed to get ahead of the vehicle Natasha was driving. She put the two vehicles nose to nose. From the close distance, Maria noticed the bright blue of Natasha’s eyes. It only raised more questions than answers, but those thoughts were for a different time anyhow.

Maria fired before Natasha could. Unsurprisingly, Natasha answered right back with a couple shots.

Instinctively, Maria ducked away.

With Maria momentarily distracted, Natasha maneuvered the vehicle from side to side and sent Maria’s skittering towards the wall before rushing ahead.

The lead let Natasha, Loki, and Selvig escape the facility before it could come crashing down upon them.

Natasha inwardly cursed as Fury’s chopper kicked dust into the air. Driving off road could be interesting enough without any ailments to visibility.

Conveniently, Loki took down Fury’s general threat level to their getaway.

The trio escaped into the night, headed wherever Loki directed.


	2. Whole Lotta Fun (Clint)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint's a little busy being in the field when the whole Tesseract business goes down initially.

Okay, this looked bad.

The last time he’d been cornered and honestly thought there might be an issue getting out, Natasha had been with him. Actually, maybe he had definitely believed they could get out of that particular corner because, well, _Natasha_.

Clint cracked a smile. He had an arrow nocked and aimed at the chest of who he assumed to be the leader of the armed group surrounding him. He addressed said assumed leader. “There’s the hard way, and the easy way for us to walk out of this situation. The hard way, I fire this and things start to get messy before I walk out of here.”

A chuckle arose from the group. One voice (Clint was pretty sure the speaker was to the right, good to know) jokingly asked, “So then what’s the easy way?”

“You all surrender. I gracefully accept your surrender. I walk out of here.”

Another chuckle arose. “Yeah right,” a different voice said, this speaker to the middle.

Clint shrugged. “I did warn you.”

He shot the arrow, ignoring the leader’s pained cry to focus on the suddenly panicking group of people around him while he reached for another arrow.

It thudded into the arm of one of the assailants, prompting something reminiscent of a scream.

Still reaching for another arrow, Clint ran through a gap in between two of the people. His best option was to get some distance, maybe get behind the columns in the room.

Unsurprisingly, the group behind him had no intentions of letting him get said distance, instantly trying to close in on him. He turned around and stopped, firing another arrow into yet another person’s chest before hastily collapsing his bow and ducking aside from an overshot punch.

Five others still standing, two of which were right on him.

Clint swung out with his collapsed bow, managing to hit the person to his left in the throat. When the one on the right stepped into arm reach, he jabbed his thumb into one of their eyes, following the motion by moving into a sleeper hold.

Three left, and at least one of them was finally pulling out their gun.

As soon as he was certain the man in his arms was limp, Clint dropped him and collected his bow, extending it to its full length with a snap of his hand.

“I’m still giving you the chance to surrender,” he boldly called out.

“We’re good,” one replied.

The one with the gun aimed for Clint, who darted behind one of the columns just before he heard the sound of a bullet hitting concrete.

With another arrow at the ready he hastily stepped out from behind the column and shot at the gunman. Another chest shot. The gunman grunted and attempted another shot, which went to Clint’s far right.

The last two assailants were huddled together behind one of the columns, quietly conversing with each other, presumably over their course of action.

Clint had successfully nabbed the flash drive before being cornered. He had no good reason to fight off the last two. Rather than attempt to deal with them, he opted to race for the door. If he could just get out and clear, he’d be good.

They let out cries of alarm as he went, and another gunshot cracked out behind him.

Regardless, he made it to the door, yanking it open and rushing out into the chill night air.

His car was still sitting to the left of the building. Clint didn’t even bother to take off his quiver before hopping in the driver’s seat and stomping on the gas.

A few miles out, he let out half a breath.

“Okay Barton,” he murmured to himself, “you’re good. It doesn’t look like anyone’s following you, but just keep on-.”

His pocket started to vibrate.

Clint immediately pulled his car to the side of the road and fished his phone out of his pocket. Coulson was calling.

“Yes, I’m still alive.”

Coulson breezed past Clint’s comment. “We need you.”

“I’m about to drop off a very important flash drive to the local base.”

“Just bring that with you, someone else will worry about it. That’s very far off your priority list now.” There was a tense current in Coulson’s voice that automatically sent Clint on edge.

“I think I can manage to drive half an hour to hand over a flash drive before anything else.”

Coulson grew quiet, his tone solemn. “Clint, Natasha’s been compromised.”

For a moment, the world stopped and all Clint was loosely aware of was a faint buzzing sound. “How-?”

“I’ll debrief you on what we know in a little bit. For now, we need you here and working on finding her. Forget about dropping it off right now.”

Still in something of a blur, Clint simply replied, “Yes sir.”

_Natasha._


	3. Révéler (Natasha)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Selvig is busily working away and Loki has questions he wants answers to.

Somewhere along the way, Loki had opted to let Natasha find a place from which they could operate, given that she knew more about the ins and outs of finding one.

She had always maintained some connections who were rather unsavory to SHIELD’s eyes. Between them and several parties who were not overly fond of SHIELD, she was able to provide a series of tunnels to work in and Selvig with whatever assistance he required, all without any means that SHIELD was likely to notice or be looking for.

They established a makeshift laboratory in a matter of hours, effectively turning the tunnels into a network of activity, both on the scientific front and in the realm of other resources Natasha had pulled on per Loki’s request and her own suggestion.

Selvig couldn’t stop rambling about how “suddenly everything was clear” and that he was “seeing so much now.” After a few minutes of his talking, Natasha tuned him out. Shortly, she opted to leave Selvig be, trusting that he could manage to ramble to someone else or be productive doing whatever he felt needed to be done.

Natasha started to wander about. She registered what the various people around were doing, cataloging the information in the back of her mind.

A little voice started to wonder about what she could do to alert someone, preferably Clint or Coulson, even Maria or Fury, to what was going on and where.

“Agent Romanoff?” Loki sounded half bemused, likely at her wanderings.

The little voice cut off abruptly.

On a dime, she turned to face him. Her face was practically expressionless.

Visibly having Natasha’s attention, Loki continued. “Is there something you require, Agent Romanoff?”

She shook her head. “I’m just getting tired of Selvig’s ramblings.”

“Everyone responds differently to having their minds enlarged. Knowledge Selvig has long sought is now in his grasp. His rambling is likely part of his coping.”

“Perhaps.”

“Wandering doesn’t seem a very natural coping method for you.”

Natasha frowned. “My methods are my own.”

_Hardly_ , the little voice in Natasha’s head replied, _he’s been in your head. There’s only so much you’ve been able to protect._

Loki smiled and raised an eyebrow. “Oh I’m sure.” He started to say something, apparently thought better of it, and started a new train of thought. “Tell me, Agent Romanoff, since you know SHIELD so well, what do you think their next move will be?” As he spoke, they started to walk through the tunnels.

“Director Fury had several plans in place should something happen to the Tesseract or something threaten the safety of the world.”

“Such as?”

“The Avengers Initiative." She almost hesitated before continuing. "A group of heroes.”

“You don’t believe it would work,” Loki curiously stated. He glanced sideways to Natasha.

Her voice held a note of derision. “I’ve seen the candidates. Some I’ve met. The team is a disaster waiting to happen if they’re ever assembled.” She paused for a moment, and her tone adopted a slight note of awe. “But he believes they could be a team nonetheless. If anyone can make it work, Director Fury can.”

“You admire him.”

Natasha slightly tilted her head in acknowledgement. “The Director sees steady and knows what he’s doing.”

Innocent on purpose, Loki asked, “Is that why you didn’t kill him?”

“I can’t recall what my thought process might have been in the moment.”

“Ah. But of course.” The note of sarcasm was very slight.

A pair of armed guards passed by on their rotation.

Loki expectantly turned to Natasha. “And who are these candidates for this Avengers Initiative?”

She went through the list. “Tony Stark, because of his Iron Man armors. Bruce Banner, infamous for being able to turn into the Hulk. Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, who SHIELD found a little while back and took off the ice. Clint Barton, sharpshooter.”

“Since you’re his partner, are you also a candidate?”

_In your head, Romanoff._

“Yes.” She tried to keep some of the terseness out of her voice. It wasn’t hard to guess what Loki was slowly driving towards.

“And just how much of a threat may the good sharpshooter be?”

“He’s got good instincts and he knows how to be effective. He could certainly be a viable threat.”

“And how much of a threat could he be to you?” Loki casually asked.

Natasha almost frowned. “I am more than capable of singly handling Clint Barton.” She was about to say more when Loki cut her off.

“With the… bond between the two of you, could you really?” He let out a dark chuckle before prodding any further. “A man that important to you, a partner in arms, I don’t believe you could make a fatal blow.”

Internally, Natasha decided it was a very good thing that she had been trained in keeping her emotions below the surface.

“Nothing was ever said to indicate a need for fatality. He just wouldn’t be a threat.”

Loki stopped for a moment to try and gauge Natasha. “You could tear that man apart.”

She hesitated only briefly before giving a small nod. Somehow, she found herself saying, “Play his emotions, and it wouldn’t be hard.”

“And what deep, dark secrets does Clint Barton hold in his past?”

_Damn it. Sorry Clint._

Slowly, Natasha started to speak. “He was raised an orphan in the circus with his brother after his parents died in a car crash. Clint and his brother were mentored by Swordsman and Trickshot. For Clint, it was a good beginning to his archery abilities. For his brother, it meant starting a criminal history, something that Clint still wishes he could change.”

Almost imperceptibly, her head started to hurt.

Probing. From Loki.

Irksome.

If there was one thing Natasha gleaned from the mounting pressure in her head, it was the time to either tell enough to satisfy Loki’s demand for knowledge, or fight him off in her head. The latter could go on interminably.

_Clint, please understand. I’m sorry._

She continued, carefully picking her words, “His skill set made Clint a good fit for missions where the target needed to be taken out without worrying about getting in close. Sometimes he obeyed orders. He’s got strong feelings on allowing for second chances when it seemed possible. Some of those kills haunt him because of that. Working for SHIELD, Clint also ran into his brother. He tried to help him, and ended up in the hospital because of it.” 

Natasha paused for a moment and almost sighed. She knew all too well what Clint hated to remember and what could hurt him. 

For Clint’s sake, she opted to reveal a darker secret from their combined past. It only seemed fair. “A couple years back, one of our missions went downhill. We ended up in the basement of a children’s hospital. The guards were mediocre. It wasn’t hard to get out and start to look for the target.” Natasha heavily swallowed. Her voice grew quiet. “The target opted to bring down the whole hospital with him. He lit the building up. Clint and I… we only managed to get a small group of people out before the place exploded behind us.” There was a distant look in Natasha’s eyes. “There were a lot of kids in there. Clint still feels that weight.”

_As do I._

Her head slowly stopped hurting.

Loki nodded. “I see.”

At least that was enough information for Natasha to divulge.

For now.


	4. Urgent Requests (Clint)

“Coulson, elaborate. For the love of God.”

There was something useful to be had in Coulson’s prolonged dealings with Clint. For example, he could get away with calmly ordering him to take a seat first.

Clint hastily pulled out the chair across from Coulson and plopped into it before continuing. “How does Natasha, of all people, get compromised while playing watch dog to the Tesseract?”

Coulson slowly nodded. “I’ll summarize as briefly as possible. You know that Natasha was helping to guard the Tesseract and watch the scientists assigned to it. The Tesseract started to act up. As it turns out, it opened some sort of portal. A man- Loki- came out and somehow mind controlled Natasha, Dr. Selvig, and several other agents who were there. Directory Fury and Hill unsuccessfully tried to stop their escape and the facility came crashing down, thanks to the Tesseract. We’re short on leads.”

“Is that all we’ve got on this Loki character?”

“New Mexico gives us some hints.”

Clint blinked. “Oh. Thor. Mythology. Duh.”

Again, Coulson nodded. “It still doesn’t give us that much to work off of though.”

“Think there’s another Destroyer that will be at play?”

“I hope not.”

Clint absentmindedly fiddled with the end of his sleeve.

The silence didn’t last long with Coulson right there. “On the one hand, we’re talking about Natasha here. On the other…”

“She was compromised,” Clint flatly finished. He resisted the urge to tack on a mournful sigh. “I think there’s every good reason to be concerned, Coulson.”

“I never said there wasn’t.” 

“Tell me what I’m supposed to do so I can decide whether or not I’m obliged to follow orders or focus on tracking down Nat.”

As if on cue, Coulson’s phone buzzed. He slipped it out of a pocket to look at the number. “Hold that thought please. This should hopefully answer your question.” He stood and walked into the corner of the room, murmuring into the phone every few moments, “He’s here… understandably, sir… I don’t… yes sir. I’ll pass it on.”

Coulson turned to face Clint. “The Director wants you on the Helicarrier-,” he began to say.

“You know I’m not just going to-!”

“-to help with the tracking process from there and stay on top of whatever leads they find,” Coulson finished, the picture of calm. “You’ll be one of the first to know and one of the first to act, so long as you don’t try this all on your own. This is your best option.”

The end of the sentence was all Clint needed to hear. He leaned backwards in his chair.

“So how soon can I get a ride to the Helicarrier?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may be my shortest chapter of all time, hahaha.


	5. Overwatch (Natasha)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carefully laid plans are the start to any successful endeavor.

As Selvig’s work progressed, Natasha stuck closer to him. She was the set procurer of whatever he needed to continue working, whether objects or people to help.

For most everything that Selvig or Loki had requested, she had an idea, at minimum, of what she would need to do or who she would need to talk to in order to obtain the object of the request.

After Selvig said that he needed iridium, she was forced to admit that she was not terribly familiar with where to find iridium. While Selvig continued to babble, Natasha snagged a tablet from one of the technicians running around and researched until she was satisfied with a general idea of what she would need to do, at which point she started to consider the details.

Presumably, Loki would have plans of his own that she would be forced to work around, but she was not going to worry about that roadblock until he actually told her what he was thinking.

Natasha cut Selvig off mid-sentence. “Iridium is essential for this, correct?”

“Well yes, it-.”

She didn’t even look up from the information on the museum in Stuttgart she was scrolling through when she replied. “It could be difficult to obtain if SHIELD knows you’re looking for it.”

Selvig turned to face Natasha and brightly smiled. He lifted his arms, wholly resembling an excited child as he spoke. “Well that’s the beauty of it! Even I didn’t know I needed it until now! So SHIELD won’t know that we’re looking for it!”

“Giving us a step up.” Natasha finally set the tablet aside. Leery as she remained over the Tesseract’s influence, it (she presumed) had shown her a way to get the iridium. For the time being, she would work with that.

“Yes!” Selvig gleefully exclaimed. His eyes lit up. “It’s amazing what the Tesseract is showing me! It’s more than knowledge it’s…” He momentarily stumbled for words. “It’s truth!”

“The Tesseract does care to expand your mind.” Neither Natasha nor Selvig were surprised by Loki’s approach. 

“It’s been such a great help!” gushed Selvig, “Without her guidance it would’ve taken me months to figure this out! It’s amazing!”

With a wide smile, Loki turned towards Natasha. “Agent Romanoff, what has the Tesseract shown you?”

After Selvig’s happy outburst, she had started to check over her Widow’s Bites. She would need them functional, after all. In response to Loki, she looked him straight in the eye and stated, “How to get Selvig’s iridium.”

“What do you require?”

Natasha grabbed the tablet and moved to pull up an article. “I’ll need an eyeball, and a distraction.” She handed the tablet to Loki. “I assume you can manage something to attract the general attention of all present for at least fifteen minutes at a gala?” she asked, her tone simultaneously sweet and carrying the hints of a warning.

Flatly, Loki replied, “I believe I can manage.” He flicked through the information Natasha had pulled up. “Germany.”

“We need to move quickly.”

“And what all do we need?”

“Transportation, mainly.” Natasha slightly cocked her head to the side. “A team could be useful though.”

He nodded and passed the tablet into the arms of a technician who passed by. “What do you have in mind?”

She crossed her arms and made sure to meet his gaze. “I need to know if you have any plans of your own that could affect this, and whatever comes afterwards, before I can set out a full plan.”

Loki gestured for Natasha to walk with him while he spoke. “I can buy you at least fifteen minutes to obtain the iridium and leave. As part of that time, I would like to attract SHIELD’s attention and make them come to me.”

Natasha turned and raised an eyebrow at him.

He couldn’t keep from a sly smile. “From what you have said, Director Fury is likely calling in the members of the Avengers Initiative. You have also said that, under his guidance, this team could actually be a threat. I intend to ensure that they are not brought together into a cohesive unit. The most efficient way to do that is to enter SHIELD custody and sow seeds of doubt from the inside.”

“You won’t be able to waltz back out of SHIELD custody.”

“Agent Romanoff, where do you believe SHIELD would bring me?”

“Director Fury would probably have you escorted to the Helicarrier, as I’m sure he’ll want to speak with you personally.”

Again, Loki smiled. It was accompanied by a short chuckle. “You already said you could utilize a team. I will need assistance leaving the Helicarrier.”

She gave half a nod. “And take down the Helicarrier in the process.”

He slightly raised his hands into a gesture of innocence. “Whatever works best,” he replied before again asking, “What do you have in mind for Stuttgart?”

“Since we’re going to need to pick you up from the Helicarrier, SHIELD transport would be optimal.” She paused for a moment in thought. “There’s a small base, running with just one small team, relatively nearby. I doubt that they’ve been informed about me yet. I can get in, and get you in. With the Tesseract’s influence, it should work, and it’d be quicker transportation than what you could find elsewhere.”

“I’m impressed.”

Natasha let a satisfied smile slip out. “I’m very good at what I do.” After a brief moment, she slightly turned towards Loki. “I’ll still need an eyeball.”

“And a particular eyeball at that.”

“Yes.”

Loki raised his head back right as a technician, her eyes blazing bright blue, approached.

“We have a prototype of a device that is capable of realistically visually reproducing an object, in a 3D hologram, from the transmitting half of the device.”

“Well,” Loki widely smiled and addressed Natasha, “there’s the key to your eyeball problem. Lo and behold, the Tesseract does provide a way.”

The technician looked from Natasha to Loki. “Would you like to see it?”

“Perhaps in a little while,” he replied, almost dismissively. 

After Loki’s response, the technician nodded and headed back to her work.

Wryly, Natasha commented, “There still is a team and transportation to obtain.”

“Naturally, Agent Romanoff.” He openly gestured outwards with one hand. “Simply lead the way.”

She opted to keep her reply to herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always wondered where exactly the eyeball device came from, and I at least think it makes sense for its creation to be a side effect of the whole incident rather than an already existing item.


	6. Yes Ma'am (Natasha)

It had hardly come as a surprise that the SHIELD team attempted to put up a fight as soon as Loki got to the first agent. With the support of people who Natasha had previously called on and Loki, it was short work to turn the SHIELD agents. 

The next step was towards Stuttgart.

Natasha sat in the cockpit, to the right of the pilot. The SHIELD team had separated to bring both her, those accompanying her, and Loki to Stuttgart in their own directions.

“We’re almost there, Agent Romanoff,” the pilot politely informed her.

She nodded as she moved to remove her headset and unbuckle her seatbelt before heading into the rear of the Quinjet.

The five SHIELD agents who had come with her were prepping their weaponry and checking over their armors. The agents nearest the cockpit straightened to attention as she stepped out. Natasha only nodded in their direction as she moved to the back of the Quinjet, where she proceeded to grab a couple extra magazines and power up the Widow’s Bites.

“Anything in particular you want us to know before we go in?” an agent asked.

Over her shoulder, Natasha smoothly replied, “Follow my lead.”

“Yes ma’am.”

\--

Two of the agents flanked her, while the other three spread out around the shadows in the open, almost courtyard like space between buildings. 

There was a guard on the outcropping several floors above and a guard on ground level. The one above carefully regarded the area. The guard on the ground paced back and forth in the open space.

Natasha turned to the agents behind her and murmured, “Someone handle the guard on the outcropping. I’ve got the one on the ground.”

The agent nodded and signaled with their hand at one of the agents in the shadows.

She waited for ten seconds before starting to move in a counter-clockwise direction around the building’s edges towards the ground guard. 

He automatically went on alert at the sound of the upper guard’s gurgled cry of alarm and the thunk of his weapon and body hitting the concrete edge.

_Someone was a little sloppy up there._

As soon as the ground guard looked away from the shadows where Natasha was waiting in, she darted towards him. He only turned back soon enough for her to lock one leg around his and attempt to sweep his feet out from underneath him. He stumbled and tried to grab for her.

The movement was met by a jolt from the Widow’s Bites.

Natasha grabbed the gun out of the guard’s hands and supported his fall until he was a couple feet above the ground, at which point she let him drop without a second thought. 

She carefully stepped over his head, disconnecting the used cartridge from the Bites as she walked in the direction of the nearby door.

The various agents scattered around her folded out of the shadows. She fished the projector device out of her pack. With the simple touch of a button on the end it extended. She held it up at the ready to the eye scanner.

Now, the ball was in Loki’s court.

It was only a matter of minutes before the holographic image of an eye started to appear. Wildly rolling about as it was, the scanner accepted it as proof of Heinrich Schafer.

“About time,” Natasha muttered to herself before she pulled the door open. Before walking in, she turned towards the two agents who had been flanking her. “Go back to the Quinjet and make sure someone is getting us ready to leave. We need to get out before SHIELD can find us here.”

“Yes Agent Romanoff!” 

The agents hurriedly jogged away in the direction of the Quinjet.

Thankfully, an old trick made figuring the pass code for the iridium vault easy. It slid open with a slight hiss. Natasha cautiously lifted the glass casing out and hurried towards the Quinjet with the iridum securely held in her arms.

She was the last one there.

“Has the other team already left?” If those who had brought Loki were caught, they could potentially compromise the entire operation."

“They took off several minutes ago, Agent Romanoff.”

“Good.” Natasha handed the iridum to one of the agents. “Hold onto that. Carefully. We need to get it back to Selvig.” After the agent nodded their understanding, she headed back into the copilot’s seat. “Get us out of here,” she ordered as she pushed the headset on and buckled.

“Yes ma’am.”


	7. Moral Ground (Clint)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint finds himself having to deal with Loki, and that just turns everything into one long day.

There were pros and cons to the situation. It still looked bad.

Yes, Loki had been caught in Stuttgart.

Maybe Clint had been reading too deeply into his half smirks and obstinate quiet, but he was pretty sure that Loki was holding onto some secret plan. Or something.

Until Stuttgart Loki (and Natasha) had been doing very well at avoiding all of SHIELD’s efforts to track them down. It couldn’t be a mistake that Loki had purposefully decided to make his presence there very well known.

Yet Tony Stark and Steve Rogers seemed more than happy to bicker, or whatever they were doing behind the cockpit.

Or, on Tony’s half, more than happy to make quips at and about Loki.

Clint was strongly reminded why he missed Natasha. She would share his train of thought and would work at finding out what Loki’s ulterior motives were. 

Maybe once they were back to the Helicarrier, Clint would have to take that underhand. First they had to get safely through the rather sudden stormy weather.

Everything just looked bad.

A heavy thunk sounded from atop the Quinjet.

Tony and Steve automatically stopped talking, both looking up.

“Now that’s not suspicious at all,” Tony commented with a side glance over to Loki, who appeared just as confused as they were. “Guess let’s see what’s here to play.”

As Tony stepped forward to open the bay door, Clint slid off his headset and craned around in his seat. “Stark, I wouldn’t-.”

The door was opening.

He swore under his breath.

Tony gestured to the open air. “See Legolas? Nothing’s jumping out at us.”

Steve didn’t have the time to manage out a warning as a large form jumped down behind Tony onto the extended door and shoved him out of his way before stalking over to Loki and effortlessly hoisting him up out of his seat.

“Wait-!” Steve started to exclaim before the newcomer jumped back out of the Quinjet with Loki in tow.

“Dammit,” Tony muttered while grabbing the Iron Man helmet.

“Stark, we need a plan!”

“And here we go,” Clint muttered to himself.

“I have a plan. Attack." Tony followed the newcomer’s action, jumping out the Quinjet.

Both Steve and Clint shared a deep sigh.

“Captain,” Clint hurriedly started to tell Steve, “I was down in New Mexico when a guy called Thor showed up. Long story there, but Norse mythology says he’s Loki’s brother, and I’m pretty sure that’s just who we saw. And let’s just say these guys are called gods in their legends for a very good reason.”

The only sign of hearing Steve gave while pulling on a parachute was a nod at Clint. “Thanks for the warning. Stay in the area, we’ll need to get headed back to the Helicarrier soon,” he replied before leaping out the Quinjet.

Clint’s co-pilot nervously looked over at him. “Er… Agent Barton, what just happened?”

“Superheroes who act too fast.” He pulled his headset back on, adjusting how it sat on his head. “Let’s get a little lower and circle. If all goes well this should only be a slight disruption.”

“You don’t sound optimistic.”

“I’m imagining what Director Fury will have to say about this.”

The co-pilot slowly nodded. “Can’t say I want to be there for that discussion.”

“Count yourself lucky then,” Clint ruefully sighed.

Here he thought the day had been bad only moments ago, yet it had gotten worse.

Once this was done, he was totally taking a ‘no communication with SHIELD whatsoever’ vacation.

\--

Somehow Clint himself was having a good enough day that Fury didn’t include him in on the discussion about not opening bay doors under mysterious circumstances when you were escorting extraterrestrial prisoners and how nice it would be if Thor and Tony didn’t try and tear out each other’s throats, thank you very much Steve.

Experience told Clint that waiting for Loki to talk would be pointless. He needed to be openly addressed before anything could happen as far as forthcoming information.

The seemingly all-knowing smile he wore while Clint watched the security cameras outside the conference room was getting more than a little irritating.

Eventually he got tired of waiting for Fury to be done attempting to discipline Tony and figured he’d work through Maria.

“I think I’m gonna go try and work out Loki’s plans.”

She quirked a brow. “Are you sure?” 

Said without much effort to hide her slight skepticism.

Clint shifted his weight while shrugging. “Okay, yeah, I’m also going to ask about Nat some. But I’m not new to interrogation. I can work for what we need while finding out about how she’s been.”

Maria nodded before fully fixating her gaze on Clint. “While we do need to find out several things from him, you may not be the best choice.” Her voice grew soft. “Let’s assume that he knows about you and Natasha in full. Don’t be naïve and think that he’s not going to try and make you more emotional than you should be. Remember, you have to work him, not the other way around.”

“I know, I know. Don’t you have any trust in my track record?”

She managed a tight smile. “I trust you to not always stay as objective as you could be when Natasha is involved.”

“Touché,” Clint conceded, “But I think I can manage. I’m a big kid.”

“If I don’t give you an okay, I wouldn’t put it past you to go anyhow.”

“Probably at least a little true.”

“If you go in, you have to make sure not to let him get under your skin.”

“I promise I’ll be good.”

“I’ll tell Fury where you’ve gone as soon as he’s done with Stark.”

“Thanks Maria.” Clint kept himself resigned to a measured walk off the bridge.

\--

At least the smile was gone for the time being.

Loki had been pacing the center of the cell, stopping mid-step and slightly tilting his head towards Clint.

“Agent Barton, I presume?”

“Hi.” He kept his tone flat.

There was the return of the smile, as Loki turned himself to face Clint. “Curious that you would be the first SHIELD agent to come and talk to me.” He paused and let out a small chuckle. “Unless, of course, you’re here to try and ask about Agent Romanoff more than anything else.”

Clint shrugged one shoulder. “Everyone’s got their priorities.”

“Ah yes, of course. And yours do lie very fully with the woman you gave a second chance to.”

“Well,” he lightly replied, “we’ve both seen what she can do. She’s amazing.”

“Astounding might be a better descriptor. Agent Romanoff possesses a unique skill set, all of which she showcases in her work.”

“There is a reason I disobeyed direct orders for her.”

Loki squared himself in front of Clint. “Tell me, Agent Barton, how do you pick a life to save?”

Under different circumstances, Clint might have guffawed at the question. Instead he only briefly hesitated before calmly asking, “Why the sudden interest in questions of morality? Having a change of heart about the path of destruction you’ve started to leave behind?”

Almost without thinking, he started to step closer to Loki.

“And is Agent Romanoff then presumed to be innocent of any bloodshed? You lay all the fault on me to appease your own concerns? This woman you presume to love with such childish admiration of what you choose to see does possess darker sides to her.”

“We’ve both killed our own fair share of people. Doesn’t mean either of us sleep easy at night because of it.”

Lowly, Loki laughed. “Oh, I’m certain.” He stepped closer to the glass. “How those children from that hospital fire must haunt your nightmares.”

Surprise briefly flashed across Clint’s expression.

With a short dark laugh, Loki continued. “As must your guilt over Barney. Madrid. Not being able to save Agent Floyd. When Yelena Belova made a visit.”

“You’re getting into her head,” Clint defensively said.

“Agent Romanoff freely told me about you.” Loki almost sounded smug.

Clint fidgeted with his hands and frowned, maintaining some structure despite the fact that his forehead was knit together in both concern and alarm. “I doubt that.” His voice stayed tight.

“You have yet to respond to my question of how you pick a life to save.”

“And I’m going to tell you that you don’t pick this one or that one, you choose to save as many as you can, because you can do the right thing.”

“Truly a noble thought, Agent Barton, but if it came down to a choice between Agent Romanoff and someone else, or a whole group of people, could you really make such a righteous choice? Are you that prepared to act for your greater good at the cost of personal sacrifice?”

“Seems to me like you think you already know the answer,” Clint drily replied.

Loki stepped nearer to the glass. “The world will be changing. You cannot hope to stay so generous in your affections and remain alive.”

“Big talk coming from the guy in the cage. In case you hadn’t noticed, you acting cocky kinda ruined those big plans of yours. Ruling just isn’t for you.”

Almost before Clint could blink Loki had slammed his forearm against the glass while pressing closer. He practically hissed out, “SHIELD will fall. You and I both know that Agent Romanoff could easily tear you apart, and I will ensure that she does until you are screaming for her to end your misery.”

Against his will, there was an unmistakable quaver to Clint’s voice. “Good luck with that.”

The smile had evolved into a mad grin. “Monsters sleep within us all. We invite them in and use them.”

“Right.” Clint stepped back. “Okay then. Thanks.” 

The grin fell aside into mild confusion as calm swept over Clint’s features. 

“What?” Loki accidentally asked aloud. 

“You’ve been a big help. Thanks for cooperating,” Clint called back over his shoulder while he walked out of the room.

As soon as he cleared the threshold he whipped out his phone to dial Maria. “Hey, questions later, we need to secure Doctor Banner. Loki’s got some sort of plan to try and unleash the Hulk…”


	8. Avert (Natasha)

Successful.

Every step of the way.

The iridium had safely gotten to Selvig. He and his fellow scientists were productively working away. Loki had been taken into SHIELD custody.

Natasha was in the process of getting Selvig whatever he would need to get to New York and readying her handpicked assault squad for the Helicarrier.

Idly, she reflected on how she honestly would have preferred more of a variety in her options. Her squad would suffice for the time being, but it was a far cry from ideal. Someone with a range and a steady eye would be useful, even if just for causing chaos on the Helicarrier before setting foot on it.

At the very least, the squad would be able to do their job. It was a small comfort.

“Doctor Selvig, this is William. Whatever you need from here on out, William will get for you.” Assigning someone to personally answer to Selvig’s beck and call would hopefully keep from any last minute kinks. 

“Hello there…”

As the two men shook hands and Selvig rambled, Natasha hurried off. With one worry out of the way, that left the Helicarrier- and who might be a problem on board the Helicarrier- to worry about.

A small SHIELD base manned by a few agents who had no idea about her coming with ‘friends’ had been one thing. An assault on Fury’s typical base of operations was something else entirely.

If her goal was only to rescue Loki, Natasha wouldn’t be worried.

Instead of being a presence in the shadows, she and her team had to be obvious. It would naturally attract attention. That was attention she did not necessarily want, by any means. She had already guessed that candidates for the Avengers Initiative were on board the Helicarrier. They could easily deal with her squad.

Hell, a couple of them could give her a difficult time.

_Keep your head up Romanoff. Focus on the mission. Keep it manageable._

Her squad was packing away the last of everything they needed into the Quinjet.

“Agent Romanoff!”

She turned towards the voice. The agent who had spoken didn’t appear terribly worried, quashing the sudden fear that something important had gone wrong.

“What is it?”

The agent was clearly more than a little flustered in response to her no-nonsense air. “Er, we, well I was wondering if we shouldn’t do something to take down at least one rotor before we even set foot on the Helicarrier. It’d make our entrance easier besides causing trouble before they even realize we’re coming.”

After a brief moment of pause, Natasha nodded and politely asked, “I’m assuming you wouldn’t ask without a semblance of a plan. What are you thinking?”

“Laser guided MANPADS.”

“Are you operating it?”

“I can.”

“The least we can do is try.”

“Of course Agent Romanoff.”

Another agent came running up. “We’re ready to leave whenever you are, Agent Romanoff.”

“Let’s go.”

\--

The pilot radioed in without incident.

Good intel.

All members of the squad were running last minute checks over their gear and weapons. After Natasha powered up the Widow’s Bites, she addressed the squad. “Our goal is to get in and take them down before they can take us down. Stop the rotors. Agent Webb should give us a start with the MANPADS. In the chaos, it will take a while for anyone to realize you’re the enemy, in SHIELD gear. Take whole advantage of that.”

Murmurs of agreement followed.

Behind Natasha, the bay door started to hiss open.

Agent Webb moved towards the opening, the MANPADS case carefully cradled in her arms. She kneeled and pulled out the MANPADS, prepping for a shot.

The Quinjet moved closer into position.

From the side, Natasha carefully watched Agent Webb’s concentration.

“We’re in position, but we won’t be able to stay here for long before someone notices!” the pilot called back.

“Fire when ready,” Natasha murmured to Agent Webb.

“Yes ma’am.”

She took the shot.

Several slow moments later, fire erupted by the near rotor. The Quinjet was already speeding towards the Helicarrier deck.

A mission centered calm swept over Natasha. 

The Quinjet had just barely settled on the deck when she hopped out. Members of the squad followed behind her. She aimed for a vent that let into a side hall.

“Someone make sure no one gets near that rotor! Four of you, with me, the rest of you, you know what you’re supposed to do. See to it,” ordered Natasha without a second glance.

The squad assembled and disassembled behind her according to her orders.

One of the agents kicked the vent in and waited for Natasha to hop into the hall. They followed shortly after her.

“Stay close,” she warned before stalking off in the direction of the bridge.

\--

All the agents on the bridge were working in a half-frantic manner. 

Natasha and the few members of her squad were positioned outside the entrance. She motioned for someone to roll a grenade in.

_One… two… three._

One small booming noise later and smoke was filling the air, along with several panicked cries.

In the resulting confusion, Natasha darted in for one of the side terminals. She kept low. Over her, the squad members were firing to keep everyone confused and give Natasha a cover.

“How long do you need again?!” the agent who had been just behind Natasha yelled toward her.

“Just a minute!” She jammed a flash drive into a USB port and set to work initializing the program. Thankfully, it only took a few keystrokes. “Done! Keep them pinned down!”

As Natasha left the bridge, she heard Maria yell, “The Black Widow is on board and we have assailants in SHIELD gear! I repeat, assailants are in SHIELD gear!”

There went any last remnants of the element of surprise.

With a beep from the terminal Natasha had been at, the Helicarrier started to tilt to one side. 

A SHIELD agent in the hall made a panicked sound and hurriedly grabbed for their gun after they saw Natasha.

She fired a Bite at the agent. With a shudder, he collapsed to the floor, none too gently.

“Detention cell. Let’s go.” Natasha stepped over the fallen agent and broke into a run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The credit for the MANPADS idea has to go out to my father, even though he took a very roundabout train of thought to get there after I presented my no-Clint dilemma to him.


	9. Conviction

He was sitting on the bench in the back of the holding cell, his eyes closed. From where she stood by the side, Natasha could have sworn Loki smiled at the sound of her squad’s approach.

“Someone get-.”

Loki stood and addressed Natasha after turning towards her. “May I have a word, Agent Romanoff? Alone?”

She couldn’t get a clear read on his expression. Resisting the urge to sigh, Natasha told the four agents that had accompanied her, “Two of you head back to the Quinjet, two of you do whatever is left to deal with the rotors.”

The agents nodded their assent and rushed off to their respective destinations.

While Natasha walked up the steps to stand in front of the cell door, only the gentle hum of electronics and muffled sounds of the drama raging across the Helicarrier filled the air. She stood directly in front of the door and crossed her arms, looking Loki square in the eye.

He broke out into a smile and almost ducked his head as he let out a light laugh. “Still keeping that inner struggle alive, I see. Well, it certainly is clear which side is winning regardless.”

Lowly, Natasha asked, “What is it you wanted to talk about?”

“I trust that Selvig is doing well?”

Her gaze narrowed. “He’s doing what he’s supposed to. That’s not what you’re getting at though.”

Loki smirked and slightly shrugged while he extended his arms from his side to gesture at the cell walls. “Currently, I am restrained. Take that as you will, Agent Romanoff.”

She turned and stepped towards the control panel to slide the cell door open. 

While she triggered the door, Loki continued, “You may be interested in the fact that Agent Barton went out of his way to come and speak to me.” Natasha’s hand froze momentarily before she could think against it. “His topic was concern about your well-being.”

“And?” She mentally swore at the note of tightness in her voice. She should be able to deal with Loki’s pricks. She knew better than this, and yet here they were.

Amusement lined Loki’s expression. “Agent Barton is much more… interesting in person. He was alarmed at some of the knowledge I possess. Yet his priority apparently still remains ensuring that you are doing well and remain functionally alive.”

“Is that a threat?” Natasha coolly inquired.

“No, no, of course not.” Loki chuckled. “I value your assistance too much for that, Agent Romanoff.”

“Is there anything else Agent Barton said that you would like to inform me of, or would you prefer to leave before SHIELD realizes that aspect of things?” asked Natasha. She had started for the stairs when Loki finally spoke.

“I trust that _Thor_ is coming to ascertain that I am still here. I intend to deal with him before leaving. Speaking of which…” Loki trailed off before waving his hand towards the cell. An image of himself shimmered to life near the far end.

With a satisfied smile, Loki positioned himself by the control panel.

And not a moment too soon.

Thor came barreling into the room.

Loki’s image in the cell started for the opening door. 

“No!” Thor roared. He darted for Loki’s form, only to have it shimmer away as soon as he touched it. The cell door slid shut behind him.

Amused, Loki couldn’t help but ask, “Are you ever not going to fall for that?”

Thor scrambled to his feet. “Loki!” His gaze quickly darted to Natasha, only a small note of surprise registering in his eyes. “Agent Romanoff,” he curiously stated.

Briefly, she remembered hearing Clint and Coulson’s descriptions of Thor and what he was capable of. Somehow she had apparently missed out on the connection to Loki.

“Oh dear, Thor, you appear to have worked yourself into quite the situation.”

At Loki’s comment, Thor slammed an arm against the cell wall. “Whatever you’re doing Loki-!”

“Whatever I’m doing, what are you intending to do about it? Stuck in there?”

Mjolnir crashed down against the wall. 

The cell shook.

Loki paused to take in the scene before laughing. “You know, the mortals think us gods. Shall we test that?” His hand hovered over the release button for the cell.

“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.”

Natasha whirled at the sound of Coulson’s voice. He had an unfamiliar large gun in hand.

“Agent Romanoff,” Loki murmured.

She took a step towards Coulson. One hand reached for a gun.

He calmly stated, “Natasha. Please. Don’t make me do this.” Coulson powered up his gun and addressed both Natasha and Loki. “We worked on this after the Destroyer. Brand new. Even I don’t know what it does- hyurk!” He let out a strangled cry of pain as the tip of Loki’s scepter ripped through his chest.

“No!” Thor screamed. He beat on the glass again.

His own cry drowned out Natasha’s slight gasp. 

Coulson’s eyes flitted from her to Loki’s passing form as he slumped back against the wall behind him.

While Thor tersely conversed with Loki, Natasha found herself stepping closer to Coulson. His breathing was harsh and shallow. Regardless, he managed to say, “Hey… Natasha. You’re in there. I know… you are. And I know you. Fight him.”

Mutely, she found herself nodding.

The chute opened beneath the cell before it shot out into a free fall.

“Agent Romanoff,” Loki prompted.

Her head hurt even as she turned to the entrance.

“You know you’re going to lose,” Coulson said to Loki.

“Really now?” Entertained, Loki ruefully shook his head. “Your floating fortress falls from the sky, your beloved heroes falter, and I hold strategic advantages. In what way can I possibly lose?”

“You lack conviction.”

“I-.” A blast of orange from Coulson’s gun hit Loki square in the gut and sent him flying through the wall behind him.

“So that’s what it does,” Coulson curiously mumbled. Before closing his eyes, he whispered Natasha’s name as she swept past him to check on Loki.

The god was groaning, but still alive. Cautiously, he brought himself into a sitting position before noticing Natasha through the hole in the wall.

He had completely missed the flicker of a smile across her expression.

Slyly, she couldn’t help but ask, “Anything else you’d like to do before leaving?”

“No, I think I’ve had enough excitement for the time being,” he muttered. With a frown, he flicked off several specks of dust from his sleeve.

“Good,” was Natasha’s curt reply. She only waited for Loki to stand before stalking off to the door, purposefully ignoring Coulson as she walked past him.

It didn’t take long before Loki was right in stride with Natasha. He seemed to have relatively gathered himself together.

“There appear to be at least three functional rotors, or the ship is not nearly as compromised by the loss of the rotors as you would believe.”

Natasha offhandedly shrugged. “Given the people currently on board, it somehow isn’t surprising that they managed to get one of ours functional again. The important thing is that SHIELD continues to scramble around at least long enough for us to get out and continue with our objectives.”

“Very well.”

Loki and Natasha were on the Helicarrier deck, headed for the open Quinjet, when a familiar voice carried from the direction of one of the doors that led into the main corridors.

“Tasha! Nat!”

_Damn it Clint._

She whirled, hastily pushing back the hair that threatened to block her vision.

Clint was running towards her, his bow in one hand and a free arrow in the other. A small stream of dried blood down the side of his face originated from a cut on his forehead.

The best idea was probably to keep Loki out of this.

Under her breath, Natasha told him, “Get on the Quinjet, I’ll handle Agent Barton.”

“And if you can’t?”

“Guess you’ll just have to manage without me.”

Without waiting for Loki’s response, Natasha started towards Clint.

They stopped several feet apart from each other, both in a defensive posture, Clint with his arrow nocked and raised.

“Nat, please,” he pleaded, “I don’t want to have to do this, and I know you’re tough enough to fight him off, whatever he’s done exactly!”

“I’m doing what I have to do Clint.”

“No, that’s not-.” He stopped as Natasha took a step towards him. Instinctively, he fired for her arm, mentally apologizing as he shot.

She had already dropped to the ground and came to her feet right in front of Clint. He tried to swing his non-bow hand into her side, only for Natasha to grab at his bow arm and try to pop his elbow.

He grunted and hooked his legs around hers, bringing them both down.

“Natasha, listen to me, please!” He attempted to wrap his arms around Natasha so as to pin her arms by her side. She tried to pull her arms free.

“Dammit Clint, don’t do this!”

He looked her straight in the eye, the inhumanly bright blue tinged with small lines of green. 

“I’m not just gonna let you walk away with a madman Nat! Please, Tasha! Fight it off!”

She managed to free an arm from Clint’s grip. “Sorry Clint, this is for your own good.”

Before Clint could jerk away, she fired a Widow’s Bite at his chest.

“Nat!” he shallowly gasped out.

“I’m sorry Clint.” She pushed his arms away and stood over Clint until he lay still. “For your own good,” Natasha repeated to herself before hurrying to the Quinjet.

Loki cast Natasha a curious look. He couldn’t quite determine her state of mind, partially because she was strictly maintaining an expressionless demeanor.

“Agent Romanoff?”

“It’s done,” she murmured before slipping past Loki and into the copilot’s seat. “Get us out of here.”

“Yes ma’am.”


	10. Rendezvous (Natasha)

Transporting Selvig, the Tesseract, and everything and everybody else to New York had thankfully gone over without a hitch. Breaking into Stark Tower was greatly simplified by Loki’s assistance.

William continued to dutifully oversee that everything was arranged for Selvig.

Natasha had quickly found a room in the Tower from which she could tap into the security cameras in and around the Tower. Rest assured, SHIELD could hardly sneak up on her, nor would any caring archers.

Loki was leaving her be for the time being. She was content with that. Selvig would set up and open the portal. Loki’s mysterious army could arrive and cause whatever chaos he desired. Natasha would stick around the Tower and drive off any unwelcome visitors one way or another.

Or at least that was her plan.

If Loki hadn’t figured before that Natasha was frustrated by his mental probing, he would certainly figure now.

A mounting pressure in her head did not make a happy Natasha.

Grumpily, she left the room to head onto the deck. If Loki wanted something from her, she would only give away so much rather than have him rooting around in her brain. Eventually he’d reach her breaking point.

That was a day she never planned on seeing.

“Agent Romanoff.” He didn’t sound surprised in the least to see her.

She crossed her arms. Point blank, she stated, “Is there something you’re trying to find or did you just need me around for some reason?”

“I’m expecting Mr. Stark anytime. Would you care to be around to see him, or would you rather stick to your screens?”

“Are you expecting him to be a problem?”

Loki looked out over the skyline. “I don’t believe that Mr. Stark will be a problem for me.”

“You just want to get a rise out of him,” finished Natasha. She nodded to one side. “It could be worth seeing his reactions.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

_Of course you are._

While Loki stood out in the open, Natasha opted to lean against the building while they waited.

Tony did not disappoint.

Natasha stepped inside as soon as he arrived. Loki took a more leisurely pace, which left Natasha and Tony alone in the lounge area for several moments.

He pointed at her from the balcony.

“Y’know, your buddy thought you might be here, Agent Romanoff.”

Coolly, Natasha replied, “It’s not a hard guess to make.”

Tony nodded. “Still. There are a lot of people back at SHIELD who are worried for you. Practically tazing Agent Barton is decidedly not helping that concern.”

They were both at the bar, Tony on the far side.

“Funny of you to be concerned yourself Stark.”

“Maybe. But I do know what you were like before Loki. And I know that you would hate to see yourself as a puppet. Hell, you’re probably hating every step of the way, but just don’t have that extra kick yet to knock him out.”

She frowned. “If you’re so sure that you have it all figured out, why shouldn’t you do something?”

“Also because I know you and you could easily kill me with your pinky.”

Loki finally stepped inside. “Please tell me you’re going to appeal to my humanity.”

To Natasha, Tony muttered, “Sure likes to make a dramatic entrance, doesn’t he?” before loudly saying, “I was actually planning on threatening you.”

“Oh,” Loki chuckled, “you should have left your armor on for that. It might have actually given you a chance.”

Offhandedly, Tony shrugged and turned to grab a drink and glass. “The suit’s gotten a little mileage and you’ve got that whole glow stick of destiny going.” He extended the glass towards Loki. “Care for a drink?”

“Stalling me changes nothing.”

Tony nodded. “Right. But I’m threatening, not stalling.” Again, he held out the glass. “And are you sure on that drink? Agent Romanoff, how about you? I’m having one, at least.” After waiting a moment for a non-existent reply from either Loki or Natasha, Tony shrugged and poured a little more into the glass before drinking.

“The Chitauri are coming. There is nothing you can do to change that,” Loki stated while looking right at Tony, “You suppose to threaten, but what have I to fear?”

Natasha raised an eyebrow. Tony saw the movement and almost laughed.

“The Avengers,” he shortly replied. “It’s what we’re calling ourselves. Sort of like Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, even if we’re a little short on number.” He met Natasha’s eye, something almost beseeching flickering in his expression for a short moment.

“Oh yes. I’ve met them,” Loki drily replied.

Tony stepped out from behind the bar. “It’s taken a little while to gain traction, yeah. But,” he held up one hand, “let’s do a head count here: your brother the demi-god, a super-soldier who’s a living legend that lives up to the legend, a man with breathtaking anger management issues, a couple of master assassins, one of who I’m trying to figure out how to free from whatever you’ve done, yes, but still, you, big guy, have managed to piss off every single one of them.”

Again, Natasha raised an eyebrow.

_Careful what you do here, Romanoff._

Loki widely smiled. “That was the plan.”

“Not a great plan. When they come, and they all will, let me promise you, they’ll come right for you. You haven’t exactly made any friends here. Mind controlling people doesn’t really count.”

“I have an army,” Loki declared.

“And we have a Hulk,” Tony shot right back. He leaned back on a bar stool and reached behind him to grab the glass again before taking another drink. 

“I thought the beast had wandered off.”

“That’s not the point.”

Under her breath, Natasha murmured, “Then please, get to it.”

“With pleasure.” Tony directly addressed Loki, “There’s no throne, there is no version of this where you come out on top. Sure, maybe your army comes and maybe it’s too much for us and maybe I can’t break whatever hold you’ve got on Agent Romanoff, but it’s all on you. Because if we can’t protect the Earth, you can be damned sure we’ll avenge it.”

Loki took a measured, menacing step towards Tony. He raised his scepter. “Since you’re so concerned, perhaps you would care to join Agent Romanoff and fight your friends.” He tapped Tony’s chest with the tip of the scepter several times before frowning. “This usually works.”

“He has an arc react-,” Natasha started to explain before Tony cut her off.

“Welll, performance issues, one out of five, not uncommon.”

Before Natasha could say something, Loki had grabbed Tony by the throat and heaved him up. 

“Woah there big guy-!” He stopped as Loki threw him to the floor. “Deploy JARVIS, deploy!” Tony muttered as he came to his hands and knees. 

Before he could stand, Loki again grabbed him around the throat and hissed, “You will all fall before me.”

Tony managed to gasp out, “Deploy! Deploy!”

“Wait-!” Natasha started to warn just as Loki tossed Tony through the nearby window. She loudly sighed and searchingly looked around the lounge. “Not the best idea.”

“He was irksome.”

“Okay, I’ll give you that, but-.” She jumped back and swore as the suit came whizzing out from behind her.

Loki was not quite so graceful in evading the suit. He practically fell flat on his face.

“One of Stark’s tricks…” he murmured before slowly standing.

“Which might not have been an issue with a little bit of patience,” Natasha couldn’t help but quip back, a note of frustration bubbling to the surface.

Maybe she should have opted to handle Tony by herself. 

“You hardly presented any alternatives,” Loki irritably replied. He shifted the scepter in his hands before brushing several stray hairs out of his face.

“I attempted to, but you were too focused on throwing him around rather than listening.”

In the Iron Man suit, Tony came up outside the window. “Hey, and there’s one other guy you managed to piss off, big guy. His name was Phil.” A quick repulsor blast sent Loki flying backwards through the wall.

“Am I safe to assume you’re not going to shoot at me?” Natasha wryly asked a second later.

“Maybe you should just go check out what’s going on up on the roof.”

“I thought you were busy trying to figure how to get Loki out of my head.”

“I’ve had JARVIS trying to figure something out ever since I realized you guys were here in the Tower. In the meanwhile, it’s time to show whose side you’re more allied to. But I’m expecting to see you up top.” Without waiting for Natasha’s reply, Tony zipped upwards. 

For a moment, Natasha stood where she was before turning towards the elevator. “ _Bozhe moi_ ,” she whispered to herself.

Loki and a headache be damned, she was tired of having someone else in her head.

There wasn’t a question in her mind about heading to the roof.

\--

“Glad to see you could make it Agent Romanoff.”

She grit her teeth. Her head was aching. “Uhuh.”

“It’s too late!” Selvig yelled to Tony, “There’s no stopping her now!”

True to his words, a bright blue beam suddenly emitted from the device Selvig had crafted to the sky. In a matter of seconds, it ripped open a portal to what appeared to be some part of deep space.

Small spacecrafts started to pour out of the opening.

“Right,” Tony deadpanned, “an army.”

Without another word, he flew towards the opening and opened fire on the spacecrafts.

Natasha almost doubled over as her head flared in white hot pain.

Several swears in several languages instantly came to mind.

Her feet reluctantly carried her back towards the lounge.


	11. Remember?

Throbbing pain kept on circulating through Natasha’s head. Between that and her pent up frustrations, it was no surprise that she was irritable.

Loki was finely coated in a thin layer of dust and was tensely pacing around the lounge. He kept on shifting his scepter from hand to hand until he heard the elevator doors ding open and Natasha step out. Without turning, he lowly asked, “And what were you up to, Agent Romanoff?”

A little snappier than Natasha would have liked, she replied, “Given that you were somewhat… indisposed and someone needed to keep Stark from messing with the Tesseract, I went.” She paused as if deeply pondering something. “Oh, and you might be interested in the gigantic portal in the sky that aliens are streaming out of. Just a thought. If you have enough time for that, rather than causing headaches.”

He ignored the last end of Natasha’s comment and stepped towards the window. “My army has finally arrived.”

“And you have yet to make an appearance to them.”

“The Chitauri already know what to do. For now, I think it best to wait and admire their work. There may be others coming to visit here.” Loki turned away from the window and headed for the walkway behind the little bar.

“Before anything can come up, is there anything you need to talk about or have done then? Easier to get it out of the way now rather than turn it into a headache,” Natasha coolly prodded.

“My, my,” Loki smirked at her, “this arrangement truly has bothered the Black Widow to new extremes.”

She slightly tipped her head in acknowledgement. “This arrangement is closer than a married couple, and is especially one sided in that respect. Sadly, there is only room for one person per head. The pounding headaches that keep on coming up are the least of the problems.”

Amused, he questioned, “A married couple? Truly?”

Somehow she managed to keep from frowning. “Closer than. Context is important.”

“Agent Romanoff, I sincerely hope you realize how bemusing this is.” Loki stepped outside.

Natasha’s right hand hovered over the gun on the same side.

_Keep on thinking what you will. Ignore what you don’t like. See just where that leads you._

She hurried off to her surveillance room. With every step, her head slowly started to stop hurting. It was a small comfort.

\--

When Thor showed up, Natasha made no effort to move from her position. She was hardly going to run to Loki’s aid. She had already promised herself that a startling headache would not force her to go anywhere. Should Loki require her assistance, he would have to find her personally. Enough was enough.

For the time being, she remained content to only watch.

While deeply thinking. She knew she had to figure out a way to break Loki’s hold over her. For now, it appeared to be something she would have to do on her own. 

Typical.

She let out a deep sigh of relief as soon as Loki left the Tower. Hopefully no more headaches for a while. He trusted her to watch the home fort. Or at least the hold over her, on second thought.

_Your mistake, Loki. Again._

After Thor’s arrival and subsequent departure, Natasha had expanded her surveillance beyond the confines of the Tower as best she could, mainly in hopes of spotting Clint or other members of the Avengers Initiative. 

Presumably, Tony had told JARVIS not to hinder whatever she would do. Though not the best tactical decision, she appreciated it nonetheless.

Natasha carefully watched the footage streaming in from several cameras scattered around the city. Chitauri damage everywhere. The occasional running citizen. Chitauri flying through the air. 

(If she needed quick transportation, Natasha figured it wouldn’t be that hard to get onto one of the Chitauri spacecraft from the Tower. She could figure how to control it very quickly. She was good at things like that.)

More Chitauri. A larger, whale-like creature that flew. A brief flash of purple.

She instantly focused on that particular screen. Sure enough, there was Clint, in the thick of it fending off Chitauri tooth and nail.

“Stupid idea Barton,” Natasha murmured to herself.

The camera she was receiving the footage from was situated only a couple blocks from the tower.

In mere moments, she was on her feet and nearly sprinted for the elevator. She had yet another plan. Get to Clint. Get Loki out. Raise hell for him along the way and after. Try not to die along the way.

There was an awful lot of running to be done first.

\--

Clint jumped in mild surprise as the Chitauri warrior behind him let out a strangled gurgle and audibly collapsed. Rather than turn around right away, he opted to finish off the warrior who was charging at him with a quick arrow shot to the chest. When he did turn, Clint’s face went slack jawed in surprise.

“Tasha!” he exclaimed, half gleeful and half shocked.

“It hasn’t been that long, has it?” Natasha playfully quipped.

“Are you…?”

“Pay attention to the eyes. Are they still bright blue?”

With a dramatic sigh, Clint visibly deflated. “Oh. So this isn’t a typical Natasha visitation.”

She holstered her gun and crossed her arms before carefully picking across the rubble to Clint. “Well, that’s a little bit of a complicated story. Yeah, Loki is still in my head. But he’s not the biggest influence. He just literally causes a lot of headaches.” Natasha stepped right up next to Clint. “Which is why I need you to hit me. Preferably carefully on the head for best results, I’m guessing.”

“Er, am I hearing you right? Do I need to get my aids checked? I could have sworn you just asked me to hit you. Which can’t be right.”

“Clint, its part of my plan. I’m calling it cognitive recalibration. You hit me really hard, Loki gets driven out of my mind. You’re my plan A, otherwise I’m using a Bite on myself, with questionable effectiveness. And I have other plans.”

He uneasily chuckled in a vain effort to lighten the mood. “And what makes you particularly think this’ll work Nat?”

“Eh,” she shrugged, “it’s just a hunch. I need an extra push to break his hold.”

“What if it works the opposite way and puts you under more mind control?”

He was stalling and they both knew it.

Natasha directly met Clint’s eye. “I’ve got faith in a certain archer. And at the end of the day my theory does make sense.”

“Oh, I really hope so. I’m sorry Nat, in advance,” Clint groaned before collapsing his bow. He took a step back from Natasha and fell into an attack posture. “I’m really sorry.”

“Barton, get on with it- ouf!” A well aimed punch sharply connected with the side of Natasha’s skull. She wheeled halfway around and ducked her head to her chest. One hand automatically leapt up to cradle her head. “Ouh, that stings.” Slowly, she straightened and turned back to him. “Clint, one more.”

“Are you kidding me?!”

“No. Don’t back out on me now Clint. And don’t be afraid to make me go unconscious for a little bit.”

Clint guffawed. “You’re going to kill me after this, aren’t you?”

She managed out a sly smile. “Nah, I like you too much, remember? I’m somewhat invested in keeping you around for at least a little while longer.”

“Well that’s reassuring.” Without any warning, Clint swung at Natasha.

Her legs crumpled beneath her. He was quick to grab at her to keep Natasha from falling too fast or hard. Instead Clint knelt and carefully cradled Natasha across his lap, silently praying that she would be okay. 

Several minutes stretched on for what seemed too much like hours.

Natasha startled. Her eyes- now back to their natural green hue- immediately flew open. She jerked up into a sitting position with a harsh gasp, nearly giving Clint a bloody nose along the way.

He made a muffled sound of pain and grabbed at his jaw to deal with the shock.

“Clint!”

“Right here, Nat, right ‘ere. You just smacked my jaw with your head,” he overdramatically moaned.

“You’ll be fine.” Natasha helped herself to her feet before offering Clint a hand. With concern bleeding into her voice, she asked, “Right?”

He let Natasha help him up before quickly grabbing his arrows from the Chitauri bodies nearby. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just give it a little bit to wear off.”

“Good.” 

With a wry smile to help mask his lingering pain, Clint openly held his arms out. “I definitely think you need a moment here.”

Natasha happily embraced Clint in a hug. He held her tight. She allowed herself the small moment to relax in his arms and bury her head against his shoulder.

“I’m glad you’re okay Clint,” she whispered, alarmed at the strain evident in her tone. Now was not the time for sorting through the last few days.

“I’m glad you’re okay too Nat. I was starting to get really worried. Ask Coul- no, never mind.” He hugged Natasha closer. “You’re back. That’s what’s most important here.”

She pulled away enough to kiss Clint on the cheek. “We can get emotional later. Right now, there’s an alien army invading New York, and a portal on Stark Tower that we should shut down. Strike Team Delta is back in operation, and we have an in-field mission to complete.”

Clint nodded. “That reminds me.” He put a finger to the com in his ear. “Stark, Nat- er, Agent Romanoff got Loki out of her head. Yeah, she’s with me. We’re going to try and shut the portal down, if anyone wants to have a rendezvous at Stark Tower or to help.”

Curious, Natasha questioningly raised an eyebrow at Clint. “Stark knows about us already.”

“Yeah, but some of the others just know about us as far as Strike Team Delta goes. I figured there was enough worry going on with Loki and the dangers you could pose that adding more of my concerns into the mix wouldn’t be helpful. And it would take a while to offer all the explanations satisfactorily for all involved parties.”

“Can’t say I blame you.”

“I love you Nat.”

“Love you too Barton.” She grabbed for his hand and started to pull Clint in the direction of Stark Tower. “But we have an agenda.”

“Any idea where Loki’s at?”

Natasha looked at Clint over her shoulder. “Last I knew he left the Tower. And if there’s a vengeance party, I’m first in line.”

“I just think both of us could rest a little easier if he had an arrow through his eyeball,” he innocently responded.

“Emotions later, remember? I’m not dealing with them right now.”

Clint sadly frowned, briefly thankful that Natasha was leading him towards the Tower and thus not looking at him. His expression would have betrayed a whole lot of things she didn’t want to see at the moment. Worry for Natasha. Anger at Loki. His overwhelming feeling of sadness that he couldn’t understand what Natasha had gone through and what would haunt her for a great while longer. 

He softly murmured, “I remember.”


	12. Enfin

After making it safely back to Stark Tower, Natasha and Clint had beelined for the roof.

“Huh.” Clint stopped and took a moment to stare at Selvig’s device for the Tesseract. “Well that’s not something you see every day.” Cautiously, he reached out towards the device. When his hand was only a couple feet away, a field sparked and immediately he yelped and jumped back. “We’re not gonna be able to just hit it!”

Natasha rolled her eyes before teasing, “Shouldn’t you know better that to just go around touching strange things?”

“Eh, someday I’ll learn.” Clint rubbed at his palm.

A light groan carried from the left.

“Doctor Selvig!” Natasha knelt by his side. Clint saddled up directly behind her. 

“The portal… we need to close it.” Selvig started to sit up. His eyes- no longer bright blue, but carrying a note of frantic need- widened and he grabbed at Natasha’s arm in a panic. “We have to close the portal!”

She set her hand on his and squeezed. His grip slowly relaxed. Gently, she said, “Yes, we know. You designed the device Doctor. We have to stop the device to close the portal. So how do we stop it?”

Selvig looked over the edge of the roof. His breathing came heavy. “I don’t think it can be stopped.”

Clint let out a barely audible groan and turned away to make an overdramatic gesture towards the sky. “Well that’s just great,” he muttered to himself.

“Not without a tool at least,” murmured Selvig.

“What tool?” Natasha overeagerly asked.

“I… I think I did somewhat have my senses about me while I was doing Loki’s bidding. I built in a way to shut it down. With Loki’s scepter. It should be able to get through the shield.”

A wave of exasperation rolled over Natasha. She stole a glance back to Clint and flatly stated, “Guess we do need to track him down. Should be fun.” She started to stand.

“He could be anywhere right now.”

“No, wait,” interrupted Selvig, “the scepter. I’m looking right at it. It’s sitting there on the deck.”

Nearly in step, Clint and Natasha rushed to look down. 

She let out a dangerous smile.

“Time to rock and roll?” Clint suggested.

Natasha was already tugging him back to the door.

\--

A low roar stopped both Natasha and Clint from immediately stepping out of the elevator. Instead, they glanced to each other, only to realize that neither of them had a clue as to what the mysterious roar was. Clint went so far as to shrug and make uncertain hand gestures.

With one of her Glocks in hand, Natasha cautiously stepped out. 

Clint nocked an arrow and stepped out behind her. When Natasha paused midstep, he instantly drew the fletchings back to his cheek. Her left arm protectively hovered in front of him.

“Stop!”

Instinctively, Natasha and Clint tensed at the sound.

“Wait…” She made a quiet noise of disgust. “Oh. It’s him.”

“And he’s not yelling at us.”

“Doesn’t even know we’re here yet. Probably. So who else-?”

Oblivious to the fact of Clint and Natasha’s nearby presence, Loki continued to yell. “I am a god, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by a-!” His voice cut off just as quickly as it had started.

Crunching and smashing filled in for Loki’s voice.

“Whatever’s going on, I don’t think we should complain about it if they’re also dealing with Loki,” Clint whispered.

“Uhuh.”

They inched closer to the corner of the opening between elevator and the lounge. After the noises stopped, Natasha peeked. She leapt back into Clint a moment after.

“Woah, hey there, Nat, what are you jumping at?” He leaned forward. The moment he saw the Hulk’s back, his mouth formed into a small ‘o’. “Yeah, we’ll wait till he’s gone I guess. It’s good not to get smashed any day.”

“No smashing. If you can keep quiet enough, _dear_.”

He almost voiced a tongue in cheek reply, but opted to swallow it back instead for the convenience of hopefully not attracting the Hulk’s attention. No smashing would be very good.

The Hulk’s heavy footsteps were very audible off the smooth flooring. He was headed away from where Clint and Natasha listened attentively to his departure.

Clint nearly laughed when the Hulk simply said, “Puny god.”

His eyes were bright as he beamed at Natasha. “He’s got some good one liners, you’ve got to admit.”

“Later you can take some pointers from him or something. Portal first.”

“I know.” A beat later, Clint asked, “Since he’s smushed into the floor, are we worrying about Loki at all or just ignoring his groaning?”

She loosely gestured uncertainly. “Your call.”

“Eh, let’s play it by ear then.”

They chose to navigate close to the edges of the room. Clint was briefly reminded of playing line tag as a kid. Near the door to the deck, Natasha elbowed Clint’s side before whispering, “Tell you what. I grab the staff quickly. You can feel free to threaten Loki or whatever you want to do.”

“I thought you would want to threaten.”

“Give me a minute.” She kissed his cheek and hurried out the door.

At the noise, Loki painfully raised his head enough to see Clint standing by the door. “Oh,” he flatly stated after a cough, “it’s you.”

Clint casually walked over to Loki. “Yeah, it’s me.” He aimed his shot at Loki.

“And what is it that you want?” With a groan of effort, Loki rolled himself onto one side. He almost started to curl up. Instead, he clutched at his side and grimaced.

“Eh, I wouldn’t be as worried about me right now. I know someone who’s got some frustrations she’d like to vent. Breaking out from mind control leaves one with some… loose threads they usually want to tie up.”

On perfect cue, Natasha walked back in.

Loki heavily sighed, his whole body reflecting the movement.

She waltzed over to stand shoulder to shoulder with Clint, the scepter held loosely in her right hand. “Imagine seeing you here.” Only giving a second of pause, Natasha proceeded to bump Clint and ask, “Hey, is he bothering you?”

Almost bitterly, Loki let out a hollow laugh. “Agent Romanoff, please, do not patronize me.” He started to push himself up on his hands. “If you’re going to threaten me, feel free not to keep either of us waiting.”

“With pleasure.” Natasha swung the scepter so the butt end slammed into Loki’s temple. He collapsed.

“Well that was effective,” Clint casually remarked. He relaxed his draw.

She innocently shrugged and swung the staff back into her former grip. “I don’t have the time to deal with him, or threaten him for that matter, when there is a portal with an army of aliens streaming out of it that is wide open in the sky above New York City. Which we’re supposed to take care of. I’ll threaten when that thing is closed.”

“I didn’t say anything to the contrary.”

“Just a little detail.”

They stepped into the elevator.

Clint went ahead and slipped his arrow back into the quiver and collapsed his bow. “Y’know, last time I saw you before this whole… Loki incident, you promised me that we’d take a week off and go to Disneyworld.”

Natasha softly laughed. “Because that’s exactly what you should be thinking about right now.”

“Hey now,” he joked, “you know how I have the worst timing with thinking about things.” He reached for Natasha’s hand and held it tight. His tone grew more serious. “Besides, I think after all this, something like that might not hurt. It’d be good to get away for a little bit.”

“Mmm.” She clutched at his hand right back and slightly ducked her head. “Let’s do it.”

“I promise I’m going to get you ice cream every day.”

“Oh joy. Maybe that’s why I keep you around.”

“Heh. Maybe.”

At the ding of the elevator to signal the doors, both automatically went back into a mindset focused on closing the portal.

Selvig was nervously pacing around the confines of the rooftop. He loudly exhaled when Clint and Natasha walked forward with the scepter in hand. “Oh thank God!”

“What are we supposed to do with it Doctor?”

He pointed at the small opening in between the framework to the Tesseract. “Position the tip of it in there. The powers of each should cancel it out.”

“Got it.” Natasha hoisted the scepter almost into position and looked to Clint with a nod.

Using his com, he called in, “I’ve got a way to close the portal.” He was about to tell Natasha to close it, only to stop the sentence before he even began. “Got it Stark. We’ll wait.”

“What is it?” she inquired, a touch worried.

“Stark’s got a nuke in hand that he wants to land someplace other than the city.”

Her brow furrowed. “Who launched it?”

“Dunno.” Clint fidgeted with his bow.

“I don’t think Fury would’ve launched one given the civilian population. And Maria would have fought against it if it were SHIELD,” Natasha mused aloud.

“Yet another thing to be asked about later.”

“If Stark can manage to get it out of the way in time.”

A cold silence filled in after the comment.

Clint carefully watched the sky, tracking the movements of the various ships that came out of the portal. He was waiting for a sight of red that finally flew upwards.

“There he goes.”

Tense moments passed. Everyone stared at the portal’s opening.

Natasha adjusted her grip. 

“He’s not out yet,” Clint noted with a frown.

“C’mon Stark…” Fifteen seconds later, still no sign of Tony. Natasha barely inched the scepter closer to the Tesseract. “We can’t wait too long.”

“Yeah, I know. I just don’t want us to trap Stark in there.”

“Neither do I.”

Almost nervously, Clint exhaled. His hands dropped to his sides. “Think that’s about as much time as we can afford. Let’s close it,” he sadly said.

Natasha thrust the tip forward. It connected with the Tesseract.

The gem in the scepter, the Tesseract, and the beam to the portal glowed more white than blue. Clint and Natasha were forced to avert their gaze. Selvig focused on the portal’s opening. For a moment it appeared to hold steady, only to start to fold in on itself. The beam grew thinner and thinner, unraveling in small wisps of light.

Clint and Natasha finally looked back up.

“There’s Stark!” Clint exclaimed.

“He’s falling too fast for him to be in control.” Natasha kept the scepter in hand.

“And there’s nothing we can do for him… this is just great.”

Tony had already fallen out of their sight.

“At least he saved New York from being blown to bits. I’m sure he would’ve loved the attention from that,” Natasha quietly intoned.

Clint nodded. “At least.”

They let a moment of silence pass.

Selvig slowly asked, “Er, is Loki still around?”

“He’s unconscious down in the lounge,” Natasha calmly informed. Selving looked worried for a second. She hastily added on, “But we’ll be fine Doctor. We’ve got the scepter, remember?”

“I know, I just… damn. I was sincerely hoping that someone would’ve gotten to him or something.”

Drily, Clint tacked on, “If you want, I’ve been considering putting an arrow through his eyeball. Still got to decide which one though. But first, I do kinda need to contact the other Avengers and see if there’s anything in particular Thor does or doesn’t want Loki to go through. I’d hate to be the one to put a strain on Earth-Asgard relations.”

The comment spurred something that, up until that moment, Natasha hadn’t given much thought to, largely because of guilt and the current situation seeming far more pressing. She leaned up to whisper to Clint, “That reminds me actually. Is,” she hesitated, “if Thor is fine, did Coulson…? Or is he actually gone?”

Before Clint even replied, the droop of his shoulders told Natasha everything she needed to know. “Yeah, Coulson didn’t make it.”

She pulled away. An unreadable mask slid into place. “Oh.”

“It’s not your fault Nat.”

“I was there. I could have stopped Coulson from getting hurt if I’d tried.”

Clint grabbed Natasha’s arms. “Hey, wait. Don’t do this to yourself Nat. This isn’t your fault. None of this is your fault. Whatever happened, it’s all Loki. He’s the one you should blame.”

“I’m not going to dance around what I did Clint.”

“But that doesn’t mean blaming yourself for things that were beyond your control! Nat, this is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for. There is no way you could have known ahead of time and prepared yourself. Please, you know how much I care about you. You know you can believe me. Don’t do this to yourself. It won’t help anything but a sense of self loathing, and that you do not need. I promise you that you will be fine, but you can’t go blaming yourself for everything,” Clint insisted.

“I’ve been compromised,” she painfully whispered, letting the mask slip.

He pulled her into a hug. “I’ve got you. I’ll anchor you.”

She rested her head on his shoulder. “That’s not going to be an easy job.”

“I’ve managed it before. Doing it again shouldn’t be too bad.” Clint stroked along Natasha’s hair in an act of comfort. “You know I’d never leave you hanging.”

After a moment, she managed out, “Thank you. And you should probably call in.”

“Right.” Rather than pull away from the hug, Clint just raised a hand to his com. “Hawkeye here. There’s an unconscious Loki several floors beneath me that I’m about to go check on. What’s the situation with everyone else?”  
Natasha was close enough to hear the response. An unfamiliar voice said, “Banner grabbed Stark as he was falling. He’s over here okay and saying he wants to go get shawarma. Thor’s also with us.”

“Stark made it?” Clint asked in mild surprise.

“Thanks to the Hulk on two counts.”

“Tell me the story later Cap. Any of you planning on stopping by the Tower?”

A moment of silence, presumably of deliberation, came from the other end. “Don’t have too much fun until we get there, Tony wants you to know.”

Clint warmly chuckled. “Might want to move fast then.”

“We’re on our way.”

“See you soon.”

Natasha slightly pulled out of the hug. “I’m presuming that was Captain America.”

“And you’d be right. He’s a delight to talk to, everything we ever heard from Coul- ah, I’ll have to make sure and introduce you two. Oh, and Banner’s really cool when he’s not the Hulk! Thor seems great enough too. And you’re already well acquainted with Stark.”

That elicited an airy laugh from Natasha. “All too well.”

“Okay, should we stay up here to enjoy the view and silence or keep an eye on Loki to make sure he doesn’t somehow mysteriously wake up and wander off?”

“If he wakes up I claim full rights to knock him out again.”

“Fully granted.”

\--

Tony was a little unsteady as he walked in, but he managed to keep his balance. As soon as he saw Natasha, he grinned. “I was right. I knew there was a way to get him out.”

She only raised one shoulder in acknowledgement. “Congratulations.”

Thor hurried up to Natasha. “I’m glad to see you fully yourself and well, Agent Romanoff!”

“Maybe not fully- ouf!” She elbowed Clint in the gut before he could finish his statement. “Okay Nat! We’re not addressing that at the moment, I’ve got it,” he muttered to himself.

To Thor’s questioning look, Natasha brightly smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Clint’s told me so much about you.”

Steve’s quick introduction was much simpler. He shook Natasha’s hand. “Agent Romanoff.”

“Captain Rogers.”

“Heard a lot of good things about you, ma’am.”

“Thank you Captain. I could say the same.”

Somehow, it wasn’t a surprise that Tony interrupted. “We’ve got to do something dramatic for when Loki wakes up. Wait, I’ve got it! Thor, you stand over there with your hammer raised threateningly. Cap, stay right where you are and raise your shield. Also threateningly. Or throw it at him or something. Variations up to personal interpretation. Hulk, you-.”

Clint cut him off. “Look behind you. Loki’s already up Stark. Slowly crawling, yes, but, up nonetheless.”

“And he didn’t tell me. What a party pooper. All well. Still gotta be dramatic. Follow me guys.”

Everyone arranged themselves behind Loki as he crawled up onto the steps with labored breath. Clint was more than a little proud of finding himself with an arrow right in Loki’s face as he turned.

With a gasp, Loki settled back onto the steps. He looked from face to face.

Natasha smirked momentarily.

“I think I’ll have that drink now.”

Tony smiled. 

\--

Thor took the Tesseract and Loki back to Asgard. The Avengers saw them off. Tony attempted to invite everyone to stay at what he was now calling Avengers Tower, formerly just Stark Tower. Bruce accepted, Steve politely declined, and Natasha and Clint simply stated that they already had plans they needed to take care of first.

It was the truth after all, even if it also veiled the fact that Natasha needed some space to recover in.

Fury had been overjoyed to find that Natasha had thrown Loki’s influence. While she apologized to Maria for shooting at her and solemnly asked when Coulson’s funeral was (Clint hadn’t been willing to ask, not yet ready to accept the fact), Fury didn’t even have to ask for the deeper meaning behind why Clint requested a few weeks away from SHIELD activity for him and Natasha. He understood full well. The moment she thought you weren’t looking, the pain was evident in her bearing and expression.

Disneyworld seemed like a good enough answer to at least start to help.

Clint and Natasha could act normal. If nothing else, it would be a good distraction for her.

They decided to drive, which led for checking into several hotels along the way. The first night, Clint curled up besides Natasha.

“I love you. You’re one of the best people I’ve ever known, Natasha.” He kissed her cheek.

“Love you too Clint,” she murmured.

“It’s gonna be great.” He made no effort to hide the fact that he was talking about more than Disneyworld.

Neither did Natasha. “With you around, I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to do the fluffy ending. As much as yeah, with Natasha around Loki definitely could easily have been successful in the whole taking over thing, _I just really wanted a happy ending_ , haha.  
> There it is, at any rate! Thanks for reading along!


End file.
